TONY ALESSANDRA, PhD, CSP,
CPAE, has been an NSA member
since 1979. After averaging 100
paid speeches per year for over 20
years, in 2000 he decided to create
Assessments24x7.com to diversify
his business. Thousands of coaches,
trainers, and companies worldwide
use his online assessments.

I always thought assessment ools were for large corpo- rate providers. It wasn’t until
a client asked me to create a
simple Excel self-assessment
tool that both of us could use,
that I realized how they could
add value and shift a client to
viewing our services as solutions to their problems.

It doesn’t have to be
expensive. Anyone with basic
technology skills can set up, or
outsource, simple assessment
tools. While our services focus
on productivity training with
programs like Microsoft Word,
Excel, and Outlook, the same
process could easily apply to
most speaking businesses.

Here are two types of assessments we do:

SIMPLE EXCEL SKILLS
ASSESSMENT

We created a short, protected
Excel worksheet with formulas
to categorize generic skills
levels, such as introductory,
intermediate, or advanced. We
sell the assessment to corporate clients at $50 per person
with a seven-day timeline to
complete. Then, we provide
clients with a summary of
results. Everything is online
and automated, making it
simple for them to use.

ONLINE SURVE YS

Sometimes you know you
have a larger opportunity
but need to sell it with a door
opener at a lower investment.

Or perhaps you want some
good data in order to customize keynotes or training.

Consider simple surveys with
Survey Monkey.

These surveys enable us
to gather input from staff—
increasing their buy-in of a
solution—as well as customize
content, which adds value
and differentiates us from
competitors.

The survey is offered
alone or we can generate a
client report with an executive
summary, a summary of
survey results, and recommendations. We also use the
report as an actual proposal,
which we present and discuss

 Questions: Do you want open-ended feedback
questions? Do you want to use demographic questions (such as age, gender, education) within your
assessment, which allows you to slice and dice your
data to use in presentation slides, articles, and media
interviews? It also lends research credibility to your
assessment results.

End-user report structure: Do you want a
“static” or “dynamic” report? Should it have immediate or delayed delivery?

In addition to all of the above, you’ll need an
expert, usually a psychometrician, to create your
questionnaire, competencies, questions, scoring
algorithm, and, most importantly, to statistically
validate your assessment. Why validate? It lends
credibility to your assessment and you are likely to be
able to charge more for your assessment, particularly
in the corporate world.

One last decision is where to host and manage
your assessments. You are certainly able to create
your own assessment system/dashboard, but the
cost, ongoing management, and system updates may
be prohibitive.

BACK TO ‘WHY’

How speakers do business today is very different than
when I joined NSA in 1979. Back then, the vast majority of our income came from paid speeches. Today it’s
different because of:

 Long-term speaking industry changes, including an
oversupply of speakers, travel fears and hassles, and
the growth of distance learning.

An over-reliance on just speaking income, which
can be volatile from year to year, and lead to too
much travel.

 A desire for passive, recurring income.

A desire to build a business that could be sold, be
run remotely from any where in the word, or generate
enough revenue so you can pick and choose where
and when you speak.

 The need to diversify and hedge your business.

Online assessments aren’t for everyone. However,
they can be a significant profit contributor to your
business. The appeal is passive, recurring revenue or,
as Jim Cathcart, CSP, CPAE, calls it: SWISS revenue,
“Sales While I Sleep Soundly.” Diversifying my speaking business into online assessments turned out to be
one of the best business moves of my career. Not only
did my speaking business help my assessment sales,
but my assessment business opened opportunities
for more and better speaking engagements. ■

DONNA HANSON, CSP,

is a productivity speaker who
works with organizations
that want to increase
productivity, performance,
and profits with everyday
technology. She is one of
only five people outside the
U.S. accredited to deliver an
email productivity program to
Microsoft staff! Find out more
at donnahanson.com.

DOWN-AND-DIRT YASSESSMENT CREATION

BY DONNA HANSON, CSP

in person to gain conceptual
agreement. I once offered this
as a $500 report, presented
it to the client, and 15 minutes
after leaving our meeting, I
had an email with approval
to proceed with my highest
priced offering.

We’ve learned that it
doesn’t have to be complicated. There is so much big
data, many organizations are
looking for quick solutions
that allow them to fast-track
decision-making. I’m not
suggesting we nickel and
dime clients with everything
we do, but maybe it’s time we
looked at what simple tools we
could offer that add value, add
revenue, and further differentiate us from our competitors.